


The Voice in Memory

by redsixwing



Category: Chrono Trigger
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:22:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27276388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redsixwing/pseuds/redsixwing
Summary: Magus misses Schala, and remembers that once, he had a cat.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	The Voice in Memory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DreamsAtDusk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsAtDusk/gifts).



Beneath a blackened sky, the man known as Magus sheltered in a fragment of memory. It was a well-trodden path, that phantasmal scene, but there was still light in it. Still hope, even in a world scarred by its end.

The palace had been bright and full of song. How Schala had loved it! She and their mother had both loved song, and he, younger brother, had sat through many a performance. Had he mocked them, then?

Perhaps he had. Magus admitted to himself that he had been a tactless child, and made allowance that he'd also been a frightened one.

Another memory rose unbidden, and he studied it with a curious inner eye. Vivid fur, white and lavender; bright yellow eyes forever trained on him. Alfador! He remembered the cat's soft purrs, and the warm weight of the little sleeper on his lap as he studied.

Alfador had been a constant companion, ever since he heard the first mutters of the black wind. Closer even than Schala?

No; another memory arose. Schala calling him to a singer's performance, with a name he hadn't heard for aeons. Alfador trotting silent behind, and perching on his knee when he took the seat beside her. No, they'd both been close. Until-

An amulet; a smile. A slim hand gripping his. "It holds my prayers," she'd said. He'd thought at the time that spells would be better. Now, it was a treasure even in memory. 

His inner eye conjured Schala: high topknot to wise features, wistful eyes and gentle hands. His inner ear conjured her voice, speaking again: it'll keep you safe, she'd said in a voice warmer than the wind.

And then he heard it again, a whisper borne on the wind. "Janus," she called, just as if he were a careless boy again, and late. The barest phantom of a purr twined around her call.

Somehow, the night at the end of time seemed the warmer. 

Janus stood. "Schala," he said aloud, to a starry midnight. "Wait for me. I won't be long." Lavos would fall at his hand, and then they'd be safe, and together, and he'd listen to all the music she wanted, only to stand by his sister again.

The purr followed him as he rose and began to walk, and he dared comfort himself by thinking Alfador could be there, too. Wherever - whenever - they wanted to be.


End file.
